Cigar-bunching machine.



N0. 636,696. Patented Nov. 7, |899. J. REUS'E.

CIGAR BUNCHING MACHINE.

(Application led Feb. 4, 1899.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l,

WTNESSES INVENTOR tlorney No. 636,696. .Patented Nov.'7, |899. J. mausi cl'GAn BuNcHlNs MACHINE.

(Application led Feb. 4, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shout 2.

unm'llmmm Ulu-mill 'm u f {lilllllllllIl-I-lllllm Patented Nov. 7, |899.

No. 636,696.` J. HEUSE.

C IGAR BUNCHING MACHINE.

' (Application filed Feb. 4, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

Wl T NE SSE S Allarney UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEAN REUSE, OF HAL, BELGIUM.

ClGAR-BUNCHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,696, dated November 7, 1899. Application led February 4, 1899. Serial No. 704,484. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEAN REUSE, a citizen of Belgium, residing at Hal, Kingdom of Belgium, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigar-Bunching Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to machines for making llers, so called, for cigars, said llers being sometimes called bunches when covered with a binder and the machines bunching-machines.

The object of the invention is to produce a convenient and easily-operated machine in which the bunch shall be compacted and rolled in a leaf or binder and removed from the machine in approximately theV form of the inner part of a cigar.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the operating part of a machine in position for making the bunch. Fig. 2 is a plan of same with parts omitted. Fig. 3 is a broken side elevation of the machine with drawer pressed back as in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a broken front elevation of the machine. Fig. 5 is a broken side elevation of the machine with slide moved back, plunger turned back, and roller and bunch passing forward over the table. Fig. 6 is a broken plan of the table, roller, and apron. Fig. 7 is a broken longitudinal section of slideway, drawer, slide,follower, and cover.

A indicates the frame of the machine, which ispreferably a metal casting, having a slideway or track A at its upper surface. On the slideway there is a movable drawer ct, having sides 1 and bottom 3, but no front, and which drawer may slide on the slideway A. The forward movement of said drawer is limited by a pin 2, which extends down into a slot 4 in the slideway of the frame. The drawer a is open at the front, but closed at the rearby one of the walls l.

Inside the drawer ct and resting on the bottom 3 thereof there is an open-bottomed rectangular frame b. As shown in Fig. l2, the side bars of this frame b are made with openings to reduce weight when the frame is made of cast metal; but this is not material. When the frame b is pressed to the rear, as in Fig. 2, its front end is in line with the front of drawer a. A lever Cy is pivoted to a bracket 5 at the side of drawer a. The rear end of this lever C is pressed outward from the side of the drawer by a spring 6. The front end of lever C has a hook 8, which when the rear end of the lever is forced out by the spring 6 engages the front of frame b, forming a catch, so that the frame b cannot move forward, except with drawer a, While said hook is so engaged. Inside the opening 10 of frame b still a third slide-piece or follower d is arranged to slide lengthwise of the frame. In Fig. 2 this piece d is shown with open center for lightness. The front part of slide or follower d and the inner face of rail 11 of frame ZJ are shown curved at the ends, so that when closed together the space between bars l1 12 will approximate the sectional form of a compacted cigar-bunch.

I have designated the part c as a drawer because it resembles the drawers of a desk in many ways, having sides, bottom, and back, but no front, and moves on a slide way or ways. I designate the part b, which has a front, rear, and sides, but no bottom, as a frame or slidingframe, said frame moving within the drawer a. I designate the part d as the slide or follower, said part also moving in thedrawer and within frame b.

A handle e at the rear end of slide d serves as a. means for drawing slide d forward.

A lid or cover f, hinged to the sides of the drawer a, serves as a cover to the opening 10 and also as a support for the vertical plunger g, to be described.

The opening lO may be iilled with tobacco for a ller, the cover f being turned back' for the admission of the tobacco and then turned down to cover said opening, as in Fig. 3. Then by drawing forward on handle e in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, the slide d,

` bearing against the tobacco, moves it forward between bars or bearing-surfaces ll 12 and.

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inthe rear end of lever C against the pressure of spring G, and thus releases the hook 8 from the front of the frame b. Frame b is then free to move forward, while drawer a is stopped by the engagement of the slot 4 and pin 2 at such position that the plunger g is over the 'opening in the table, to be referred to.

The cover f extends in front of the drawer a and on its upper surface bears a bracket 14, which bracket serves as a support for the plunger g. A spiral spring 15, surrounding the stem of this plunger, serves to lift the plunger, but permits its depression by a blow or pressure applied at handle 16. Plunger g at its lower end approximates in horizontal section the form of a cigar-bunch and is concave at its lower face. This plunger moves through an opening in cover f. Vhen the frame b is drawn fully forward, its front end encounters a ledge 1G on coverf. The bottomless opening 10 is then under plunger g, and a depression of said plunger will force the tobacco down out of said opening.

A fixed table 71j is attached to the frame A, near the front of said frame. This table on its upper face is the segment of a cylinder. A separate table i is supported on bars 1S and is rigid with said bars. These bars 1S are pivoted at 17 to table hand extend in rear of table t' in a downward and then an upward curve. Projecting pins 20, connected to the drawer a or to brackets thereon, extend behind the rear ends of levers or bars 18, and when said drawer a moves forward, as has been explained, these pins 2O engage the under sides of bars 18 and lift said bars and with them the movable table t'. The table t' has an opening or mortise 22 in its face approximating the form of the plunger g. NVhen this table i is lifted, as in Fig. 1, the opening 22 is directly under plunger g, said plunger being then in forward position. A flexible apron l is attached at one end to the front of fixed table 7L. Said apron, which is about as wide as the length of opening 22, extends back `over table t', and the rear end of the apron is connected to a spindle m, which spindle may be secured in holes n in the frame, so as to regulate the tension of the apron. Apron Z is slack enough to form aloop or fold, which may be pressed down into opening 22 by the fall of plunger g, and in operation the tobacco is carried down ahead of the plunger into this opening. Cords or tapes 0, connected to apron l and to springs p, serve to form the bight in the apron, said springs p being suitably connected to the frame. A roller q extends across the machine under the apron. This roller is preferably largest at the ends, so that its side approximates the reverse sectional form of a ci gar-bunch. Rollei' q is carried between levers o', which levers are attached to the shaft 24, to which shaft pinion 25 is firmly held. Shaft 24 has its bearings in the frame concentric with the curve of table h, and levers r are of such length that the roller q when swung by levers r passes along the surface of tables 7L 'L' in contact with the lower or rear surface of apron Z. Vhen. table t' is depressed, as it will be by its own weight when not held up, as has been described, the tables h and t' are practically continuations of a curve of which the levers 1^ are radii, so that roller q naturally follows the surface of those tables, or nearly so.

Pinion 25 may be rocked by engagement with a toothed segment 26, mounted to rock on shaft 27 and connected by a pitman 28 to a treadle or other power connection. A spring, as 29, tends to hold the segment against the action of such power and to restore the segment when such power is removed.

Now it being understood that I[he tobacco is formed in opening 10, as has been explained, such opening being brought forward by a hand-pull on handle e, the table will be lifted so that the opening 22 is directly under opening 10, apron Z intervening. Then by depressing plunger g the charge of tobacco is carried down into the apron-bight in said opening 22. The plunger g is then allowed to rise, and the slides are pushed back to the rear of the machine, allowing table 't' to fall to its lowered position, so that roller q can ride over it. The cover f is also thrown back, so that a new charge of long or short or broken tobacco can be applied in opening 10. A tobacco-leaf which is to form the cover of the formed filler is then placed on the forward part of apron Zabove the table h, the edge of the leaf in proximity to or extending into opening 22. Then by operating the treadle or other mechanism the roller q is carried forward, moving a bight of the apron Z in front of itself and riding over the opening 22, leaving the bunch in a bight of the apron in said opening and winding the covering-leaf on said formed filler. As the roller q moves forward it lifts the bight of the apron out of the opening, and the roll being rotated by'contact with the apron and table this bight of the apron and the charge contained within it travel or roll forward in the bight of the apron toward the front edge of the table, the bunch rolling within the bight of the apron as the movement progresses and the cover winding on the bunch. When the roller q passes olf the front of the table, the bunch of tobacco follows close behind it and falls from the bi ght of the apron. (See dotted lines, Fig. 6.) The action of thev apron on the bunch is very similar to that of hand-rolling. When the bunches have been formed in the machine, as explained, they may be pressed in molds until ready to be finished into cigars by the application of the wrappers, which may be done by hand, but preferably by one of the machines heretofore patented to me.

A great advantage of this bunching-machine is that the core of the bunch may be either of long or short tobacco or a mixture of both, and whatever the variety of the t0- IOO IIO

bacco the machine causes it to assume a position so that the fibers run generally lengthwise of the bunch in opening 10.

I do not broadly claim an apron and roller for forming the bunch of a cigar.

What I claim isl. In a machine for forming cigar bunches or fillers a supporting-slideway, a drawer on said slideway having a limited sliding movement, a bottornless frame within said drawer, and a slide-piece within the frame provided with means for moving the same toward the edge of the frame against which the filling is compacted, all combined substantially as described.

2. In a machine for forming cigar-bunches, the sliding drawer on the slideway, a bottomless sliding frame within said drawer, a slide or follower in said drawer and moving toward one side of the frame, and detachable means connecting the frame and drawer so that the two slide together during part of their movement, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for forming cigar-bunches a slideway and a sliding drawer thereon, a sliding frame within the drawer and a slide or follower acting to compress the tobacco against the side of said frame, a catch engaging the said frame to the drawer, a stop for the drawer and automatic means by which the frame is disengaged from the catch and permitted to move forward after the drawer is stopped, substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the character described, the slideway, the sliding drawer thereon, the bottomless frame within the drawer, the follower and a hinged cover connected tothe drawer and making with the slide, drawer, and follower a forming-opening, all combined substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the character described, the slideway, the open-ended drawer thereon, the slide in said drawer, a spring-actuated hook engaging said drawer and slide for a part of the sliding movement, and an incline on the frame acting to disengage said hook, all substantially as described.

6. In a machine of the character described, the slideway, drawer, frame, and follower arranged substantially as described, means for stopping the drawer while permitting the frame and follower to move forward, and a plunger in position to drive the charge from between the frame and follower while in their forward position, substantially as described.

7. In a machine of the character described, a frame having a slideway, a sliding drawer thereon, a frame and slide within the drawer by which the charge is compacted, a table with an opening therein under the chargeformer, an apron having a bight in said opening, and a plunger by which the charge is pressed from the com pacting mechanism into the bight of the apron, all combined substantially as described.

8. In a machine of the character described, the segmental fixed table, the movable table hinged thereto and having an opening, means for raising the movable table to receive the compacted fillings, an apron extending across both tables, and a traveling roller carried by levers across the tables when the movable table is depressed, said roller moving in contact with said apron, the specified elements being combined substantially as described.

9. In a machine as described, the segmental table having a hinged portion with an opening therein, an apron extending across said tables and opening, a roller moving across said tables in` contact with the lower surface of the apron, levers hung concentric with the segmental table, and means for moving said levers to carry said roller across the face of the table, all combined substantially as described.

10. In a machine of the character described, the sliding buncher of substantially the character described, the movable table having an opening therein, and projections from said table in the path of movement of the slide, whereby said table is rocked by the slide movement to bring the opening under the bunch.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J EAN RESE.

` Witnesses:

GREGORY PHELAN, MAURICE GERBEAULT. 

